Hemusite
| Hemusite | |
|---|---|
Hemusite from Kawazu mine, Japan at National Museum of Natural History, Bulgaria | |
| General | |
| Category | Sulfosalt minerals, Sulfides |
| Formula | Cu6SnMoS8 |
| IMA symbol | Hm |
| Strunz classification | 2.CB.35a (10 ed) 2/C.09-10 (8 ed) |
| Dana classification | 2.9.6.1 |
| Crystal system | Isometric |
| Space group | P432 (no. 207), F43m (no. 216), or Fm3m (no. 225) |
| Identification | |
| Color | gray |
| Mohs scale hardness | 4 |
| Luster | metallic |
| Diaphaneity | Opaque |
| Density | 4.469 |
| References | |
Hemusite (IMA symbol: Hm) is a very rare isometric gray mineral containing copper, molybdenum, sulfur, and tin with chemical formula Cu6SnMoS8. It was discovered by Bulgarian mineralogist Georgi Ivanov Terziev in 1963. He also described it and named it after Haemus, the ancient name of Stara planina (Balkan) mountains in Europe. The type locality is Chelopech copper ore deposit, Bulgaria. Later tiny deposits of hemusite were found in Ozernovskoe deposit, Kamchatka, Russia; Kawazu mine, Rendaiji, Shimoda city, Chūbu region, Honshu Island, Japan; Iriki mine, Iriki, Satsuma-gun, Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu Region, Japan; Kochbulak deposit, Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Hemusite occurs as rounded isometric grains and aggregates usually about 0.05 mm in diameter and in association with enargite, luzonite, colusite, stannoidite, renierite, tennantite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, and other minerals.